'Egyptian Jon Stewart' off air: Popular satire show mocking new govt canceled

Egyptians watch the first episode of a show by Egypt's most prominent television satirist, Bassem Youssef, called "Al-Bernameg" (The Programme) in Cairo October 25, 2013 (Reuters / Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

A popular show by a daredevil Egyptian political satirist, Bassem Youssef, has canceled the airing of its latest, highly-anticipated episode after it came under fire for mocking the new military-backed government.

The Egyptian satirist has caused furor after joking about the
popularity of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and interim
President Adly Mansour.

Earlier this week the Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the
comedian, who is often referred to as Egypt's answer to US
satirist Jon Stewart, is to be investigated by the current
army-backed authorities. Youssef left for the Emirates Friday,
according to AP.

The weekly program is pre-recorded. Only minutes before the
"El-Bernameg" ("The Program" in Arabic) was to air on Friday
night, the Egyptian channel CBC, which broadcast the previous
episodes, informed that it would not be shown, allegedly because
satirist, Bassem Youssef, and his producer violated editorial
policies and financial commitments.

In his latest show, Youssef made fun of the mania for the
military, which took off after a popularly backed coup ousted
Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Supporters of the military
rushed to file legal complaints against the show. CBC, whose
programming largely supported the coup, distanced itself from the
program's content.

According to those who watched the pre-recorded episode that was
to be aired Friday, Youssef used a large segment of the program
to mock CBC, as well as its editorial policies and choice of soap
operas.

Youssef's supporters, the June 30 Front group among them, have
called for a boycott of the station, describing Youssef as a
"dreamer of freedom".

Mohammed ElBaradei, who served briefly as vice president in the
post-Morsi government, and prior to that was the Director General
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also
supported Youssef, decrying violation of freedom of expression.

"Freedom of expression is the mother of freedoms. If it is
limited to those we agree with, it is an empty slogan. The
courage is in defending it, not repressing," he wrote on his
Twitter account.

It's not the first time Egypt's prosecutors have launched
investigations into complaints about Youssef's show. The satirist
was subjected to similar litigation when President Morsi was
still in power. He was arrested under Morsi's government and
appeared in court on charges of insulting the president and
Islam; the charges were later dropped, however.

In fact, right after Youssef's first show, the channel said it
was "keen on not using phrases and innuendos that may lead to
mocking national sentiment or symbols of the Egyptian state."
However, CBC also noted at the time that it was nevertheless
committed to freedom of expression. From the very beginning, the
channel, whose programming supported the coup, distanced itself
from the program's content.
"I am not with the (Islamists), who attacked us and called us
heretics ... and publicly called for our imprisonment,"
Youssef said on his recent Friday show.

"At the same time, I am not with hypocrisy, deification of
individuals and creation of pharaohs. We are afraid that fascism
in the name of religion gets replaced with fascism in the name of
nationalism," he added.